Patrick-Murray Administration Proposes Changes to Area Under Consideration for Offshore Wind Energy Development

Responding to concerns of the commercial fishing industry and other stakeholders, proposal would shield important fishing grounds in federal waters

BOSTON - Tuesday, April 19, 2011 - The Patrick-Murray Administration has requested that the federal government refine the area being considered for offshore wind energy development to remove from further consideration certain areas identified by commercial fishermen, fisheries scientists, and other maritime users as vital to the Commonwealth's fishing industry.

The Administration's request would remove from the federal leasing process approximately half of a 3,000 square mile area in federal waters south of Massachusetts originally identified by federal officials for potential wind power development. Among the territory exempted from consideration for wind energy siting under the Administration's proposal are shipping lanes and waters on the eastern side of the original lease area important to the Massachusetts fishing industry.

"This proposal will enable Massachusetts to lead the country in a burgeoning offshore wind industry, while also protecting our vibrant commercial fishing industry that is so vital to our economy," said Governor Deval Patrick.

"Governor Patrick is committed to making Massachusetts the nation's offshore wind energy leader," Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) Secretary Richard K. Sullivan Jr. said. "We submitted a proposal that would move the Commonwealth toward that goal while safeguarding waters important to our commercial fishing industry. Informed by discussions with fishermen and a review of existing science, this proposal will promote responsible siting of offshore wind energy, paving the way for Massachusetts to benefit from the clean energy jobs and economic development this new industry will bring."

United States Congressmen Barney Frank, Bill Keating, John Tierney and Edward Markey, and New Bedford Mayor Scott Lang support the Administration's recommendation to exclude from further consideration for offshore wind energy development waters on the eastern portion of the RFI area, and to further study existing fisheries and fish habitat throughout the RFI area.

"We appreciate the commitment of Governor Patrick and Secretary Sullivan to enter into partnership with the fishing industry on this very important and complex environmental issue," said New Bedford Mayor Scott Lang. "Offshore wind energy developments offer a green energy solution that decreases our dependence on foreign oil, but they must be balanced with science and the sustainability of fishing communities. We are grateful the Administration fully understands this and has pledged to collaborate with the commercial fishing industry and scientists as sites for offshore energy developments are explored."

On December 29, 2010, the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement (BOEMRE) issued a Request for Interest (RFI) for Commercial Leasing for Wind Power on the Outer Continental Shelf offshore of Massachusetts. Issuance of the RFI was the first step in a multi-year federal leasing process for offshore wind energy development, and included a map identifying approximately 3,000 square miles of federal waters off the Massachusetts coast for consideration. In late February, the Patrick-Murray Administration, members of the Massachusetts Congressional delegation, and Massachusetts fishermen requested that BOEMRE extend the public comment period for the RFI. This extension was granted and enabled the Massachusetts Department of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) to convene a Fisheries Working Group on Offshore Renewable Energy to address issues between commercial fishing and offshore wind power development. A Habitat Working Group was also convened to examine ecosystem issues relating to the potential lease area.

The Commonwealth's proposal to change the RFI area was submitted yesterday in accordance with BOEMRE's extended public comment deadline of Monday, April 18.

"As a concerned fisherman and member of the Fisheries Working Group, I would like to applaud the efforts of Governor Patrick for reaching out to the local fishermen and the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth School of Marine Science and Technology for their input," said Eric Hansen, owner of the scallop boat Endeavor. "A major victory for local fishermen will be realized if the federal government follows the recommendation of Governor Patrick in the exclusion of all area east of 70 degrees west longitude. The business of the Fisheries Working Group is by no means complete - much study and research needs to be completed before any wind exploration can start in the remaining area."

The U.S. Department of Energy (U.S. DOE) projects that the offshore wind industry will create 43,000 jobs nationally by 2020. With an abundance of offshore wind resources and other suitable siting conditions (water depth, bottom geology, and proximity to electricity market), Massachusetts is well positioned to capture many of those jobs. EEA estimates that development of offshore wind in the federal waters south of Massachusetts could produce 4 gigawatts of electricity, enough to power 70 percent of Massachusetts households and equal to the total electricity currently generated by all of the Commonwealth's coal-fired power plants.

Of the $22 billion Massachusetts residents and businesses spend each year on energy, nearly $18 billion leaves the state's economy to pay for coal, natural gas, and oil from the Middle East, South America, Canada, and other parts of the United States, according to EEA's Clean Energy and Climate Plan for 2020 released in December. This dependence on fossil fuels increases air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, leaves the Commonwealth exposed to price volatility, and provides little economic multiplier benefits for Massachusetts residents.

Through a strategic portfolio of clean energy policies and programs - including support for developing offshore wind energy, the Patrick-Murray Administration is positioning Massachusetts to reclaim that lost economic activity. As a companion to the federal RFI issued in December, EEA solicited from potential wind power developers their thoughts and expertise regarding locations for assembly and maintenance of wind turbines and the supply chain needed by a new offshore wind industry, with an eye toward expanding the Bay State's emerging wind energy sector. Additionally, the Commonwealth is committed to working with federal officials to achieve U.S. DOE's goal of reducing the cost of electricity generated by offshore wind by 40 percent by the end of this decade and 60 percent (7 to 9 cents per kilowatt hour) by 2030.

The Patrick-Murray Administration is already moving aggressively to bring down the capital costs of wind power through its efforts to foster the Massachusetts wind energy cluster. In addition to being home to Cape Wind - the nation's first offshore wind project, which will generate 468 megawatts of emissions-free energy and create approximately 1,000 clean energy jobs, the Massachusetts offshore wind cluster includes:

The Wind Technology Testing Center in Charlestown, funded with a U.S. DOE stimulus grant and operated by the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, which opens this spring as the world's largest wind blade testing facility and the first facility in the United States capable of testing the next generation of wind blades;

New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal, the first U.S. facility with capability to construct and assemble offshore wind projects;

Wind company Siemens opening its North American offshore wind headquarters in Boston; and

TPI Composites, Inc., a leading global supplier of wind turbine blades, expanding its operations from Warren, RI to Fall River where the company is constructing a wind blade innovation center to support TPI manufacturing facilities around the world.

Massachusetts is also home to a significant brain trust in renewable energy development including two of the nation's leading academic institutions on wind research: the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the Massachusetts Institute for Technology, as well as the world's largest nonprofit oceanography center, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.

BOEMRE's RFI was the first step under U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar's "Smart from the Start" offshore wind renewable energy initiative. It allows BOEMRE to identify priority areas for potential wind energy development, and promotes an informed and responsible siting and permitting process for offshore wind projects. BOEMRE's process will include review of RFI responses by the Massachusetts Offshore Renewable Energy Task Force, as well as public participation and thorough environmental review under all applicable laws before any energy projects are permitted.

To date, EEA has convened over 30 public meetings and stakeholder sessions in Boston, New Bedford, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket to discuss the federal offshore wind leasing process. EEA will continue to engage the public, as well as the Fisheries Working Group and Habitat Working Group, with BOEMRE in the months ahead.

Tool Name: Baynote, Inc. Recommendations

The information below summarizes privacy policy terms related to content recommendations on Mass.Gov and is excerpted from the full Mass.gov privacy policy.

Purpose: Displays relevant content recommendation based on the site usage pattern of all users of Mass.Gov. If Personalization is enabled (the default setting), your personal site usage pattern today and on prior visits to Mass.gov will be displayed to you and will also be a factor in determining personalized relevant recommendations for you.

Data Collected: A random anonymous unique identifier is assigned and tracked for each user of the website. This identifier is sent to our vendor, Baynote, when you view a page, open a document or click a link on Mass.Gov. Our vendor then analyzes the specific content that was viewed and provides content recommendations to similar content that you may find useful. A full description of what data Baynote collects and how it uses this data is available at http://www.baynote.com/baynote-services-privacy-policy/. Please note that the tool uses persistent cookies. These cookies will be Mass.gov domain cookies and not Baynote domain cookies. The cookies will store information related to a user’s Mass.gov Web site usage, including the URL and title of sites recently visited and the random anonymous unique identifier assigned to the user. In general, and as described in more detail in Baynote’s service privacy policy linked to above, Baynote only uses the personalized information it gathers to provide recommendation services and display past usage for Mass.Gov users and will not share this information with any third parties, including advertisers. The information collected will not affect content you may see on sites unaffiliated with Mass.Gov.

Express Opt Out: If personalization of recommendations based on the content you view is not desired, or you do not wish to display a list of recently viewed Mass.gov pages, you may turn personalization off. You can do this by using either the switch located below in this privacy policy or an identical switch located directly above the content recommendations and recently viewed content boxes displayed on the Mass.gov site. Once you turn off personalization, your content recommendations will be based on the overall traffic patterns of all users of Mass.Gov and they will not specifically take into account your own personal usage patterns. If you turn off personalization, information collected by this Tool that is associated with your content usage will be deleted from your cookies, and no further information about your content usage will be sent to our vendor.

Disabling personalization will affect both content recommendations and recently viewed page links. If you turn off personalization, this “off” setting will persist as you browse Mass.Gov and during any future sessions. The opt-out setting is stored in a persistent cookie on your computer. The setting will remain in effect so long as you use the same computer with the same Internet browser. If you delete the cookie that contains the opt-out setting or use a different browser or computer, personalization will be enabled and you will need to disable it again on your next visit, if desired.

For our full privacy policy, please close this window and see the Site Policies or Privacy Policy link in the footer of the page.